Title: Chances

Disclaimer: Don't own these characters, please don't sue.

Rating: PG-13 for language and adult situations

A/N: More chapters to come if wanted.....please review!









Logan woke up with a start, sweat pouring down his face. His nightmare again. Except this time it was different. It wasn't him chained down. It was Marie. Marie, as she looked at sixteen, the way he remembered her. She was screaming. But he couldn't move. He was rooted to the spot. He was watching her being tortured and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. His body would not function. It was almost as if someone had him bound as well. Only his mind was functioning and it was tormenting him that he couldn't help her. That was the longest nightmare he had ever had. The end of the dream, right before he woke up was what he could remember best. Everything had started fading to black, he was on the verge of waking up. His mind was rushing back to his body when he heard through a great distance Marie's agonized cry, followed by "Logan......help, please."

He sat up in bed. Trying to get his heartbeat back to normal. No rest for the weary, he thought. He lifted his hand up to rub the sleep out of his eyes, and realized his claws had come unsheathed while he slept. Logan glanced down at the bed. The sheets were ripped to shreds. He had fought an imaginary adversary while he slept. There was something wrong with the dream though. It had felt too real, her voice echoed in his mind. "Logan...help, please." Her cry to him was too real to ignore. Maybe it was time to go home. Home. Since when had he started thinking of the school as home. He missed everyone, maybe even Scott a little....nah. He didn't miss that jack-ass. He did miss busting his chops though. The search for his past had not gone well. He found more questions than answers. After seven years of searching, he thought maybe he could put the past behind him. He would still be on the look-out for answers, but he did not want it to run his life any longer. There was only so much disappointment one could take in life. Logan had dealt with seven years of it and that seemed to be his limit.

He looked around the hotel room he was staying in. At least it was clean. He was used to sleeping in one-nighter roach motels. Or even outside if the occasion called for it. He wanted his room back at the school. It may not have been much, but it had been his. He wondered if he would still be welcomed there. He wondered how Jean was. He had thought a lot about her while he was gone. As far as he heard last, her and Scott had gotten married. Logan had read that in the paper. He had felt like his heart was ripping out of his chest. He stayed drunk for two weeks after reading that. Funny, but Marie was actually the one that had saved him from that. It was the thought of her that had brought him out of his drunken stupor. He didn't want her to see what he had become over those two weeks. He still thought of her as the young innocent girl he had left behind. His only friend. He laughed sardonically at himself. It was almost sad. A sixteen year old girl, his only friend and he was...well hell. He didn't even know how old he was. It was rather pathetic.

Logan got out of bed, even though it was still dark out. He wouldn't be getting any sleep. Plus, he didn't feel like paying for the hotel to get new sheets. He was on a limited budget as it was. He didn't feel like answering their questions either. In the seven years he had been traveling, searching for answers, the silent war between humans and mutants had grown steadily worse. Most mutants had to go into hiding for fear of their lives. It's a good thing that Magneto was in prison, Logan thought. He would really be causing trouble for humans right about now. Somewhere along the line he had starting thinking like Professor X. That humans and mutants can live in peace. Not that getting to that point would be an easy task. Impossible is what most say now. But they haven't tried. A lot of them haven't even picked a side to be on.

Dear God, he was starting to sound like Storm. He still remembered those exact words that she had spoken to him. At least I have picked a side to be on. It took Logan these last few years to realize exactly what side he wanted to be on and would be on. That in mind, he started repacking his bag. He was heading back to the school. He should be there within a week. Maybe less, with Scott's motorcycle. Something was pulling him back to the school. Or someone. He needed to be there and see if everyone was alright. Something told him that nothing was alright. There were warning bells going off in his head. Marie... something happened to Marie. No. He wouldn't let himself think that way. Marie was ok. He was just still reeling from that dream. Soon he would see her and he could reassure himself that she was fine. She couldn't be any other way. He had promised to take care of her, and he would make good on that promise.

Just thinking about her made him smile. That southern drawl of hers, her smile, even that lock of white hair mixed in with her mahogany tresses. She had become an important part of his life. Whether he had wanted to admit it or not. As he walked out of the room and hopped on his bike, he tried to ignore the sick feeling he was getting that everything was not ok. God, please let her be ok. He thought as he rode off into the night, fully intent on getting to the school as soon as possible.